Obama, McCain Now Battling On MTV, Comedy Central

Last month Viacom said MTV was reversing a
27-year-old policy of not
accepting political ads -- a reasonable move, since the
company is expecting pretty weak advertising growth in Q2 of 3%
to 4%. At the time, MTV said political advertisements would be
limited to the campaigns and political parties themselves, and
not independent groups.

That was last month. The
NY Times notes that MTV and Comedy Central are running a
pro-Obama ad from MoveOn.org
starring Amber Benson of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" fame. The ad
is a response to another recent ad on MTV attacking Obama from
another independent group, Let Freedom Ring.

The ad is also running on Viacom's Comedy Central, which hasn't
had a political ad ban. But it is the first political ad to run
on "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" and "The Colbert Report."
Total haul for Philippe Dauman's company? $150,000 for a one-week
run.

Political dollars won't do much for Viacom's Q2, which it reports
this afternoon. But Pali Research Analyst
Rich Greenfield thinks the ads are a good sign for Q3, as the
races ramp up.

While we expect advertising growth to slow across the cable
network industry in calendar Q3, the first time acceptance of
political advertising by MTV Networks could help growth in the
back half of 2008, with both political camps trying to reach
MTV’s core (younger) demos.

Both ads are battling it out on YouTube as well (and posted
below), but Dauman would just as soon see the campaigns, and
their surrogates, fight for the youth vote on Viacom's air. The
danger: desperate for cash, Viacom starts accepting some of the
crass political advertising that turns young people off, and they
start turning off Viacom.